Name: Dave Rempel
Age: (blank)
Occupation: retired principal, school trustee
Q1. What experience do you have in public education?
1: I have more than 45 years of experience in public education, including 14 years as an elementary teacher, 18 years as an elementary principal, and 15 years experience as a trustee on the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Board of Education
Q2. Why should you be elected to the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Board of Education?
2. I bring an exceptional educational background to the job of trustee, including
• Formal education – BRE (Bachelors of Religious Education), B.Ed. MA and PhD
• Experience: elementary teacher 14 years, elementary principal 18 years, trustee 15 years
• Proven consistent passion for public education and our youth within the system as teacher and principal
• Bringing resources from the community to support learning in the classroom through my involvement with Meadowridge Rotary (Four Way Test, Esteem Team), Tzu Chi Foundation (Funding low income students for extracurricular activities), Ridge Meadows Educational Foundation (Fine arts funding)
• I possess extensive experience in solving possible big issues facing the Board of Education for the next three years, including budget deficits, developing a definition of learning in the 21st Century, and school closures. In my five terms as a trustee in SD42, we closed or relocated (very difficult decisions) six elementary schools.
Q3. What do you feel are the most important issues facing public education, and how do plan to address those issues as a school trustee?
3. These issues will only be addressed and resolved by a team effort – all seven trustees focusing on what needs to be done and then getting it done. The school board will employ well established and proven decision making processes, consulting with the public and partner groups. It should engage in strategic planning sessions to address the issues in a timely and productive manner. In addressing each issue the Board needs to examine current research and best practice in other jurisdictions. Some of the specifics as to how to address each issue will vary but the general process of decision making should follow the above outlined process.